Ravens Expected Packers To Draft Rashod Bateman At No. 29
The Packers last drafted a first-round wide receiver in 2002 — Javon Walker — but they may have been prepared to pull the trigger this year. The Ravens, at least, viewed that as likely to take place.
Earlier this month, select execs around the league viewed Green Bay as Rashod Bateman‘s landing spot — if he remained on the board at No. 29. The Ravens were among the teams that believed this would transpire. Ravens director of player personnel Joe Hortiz said as much recently, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com notes. The Ravens drafted Bateman 27th overall.
“Certainly, we knew [the Packers] liked him and a lot of teams like Rashod,” Hortiz said, via Hensley. “We don’t know for certain, but you do try to pay attention to, ‘OK, the GMs were at this pro day’ — especially this year because the GMs weren’t able to get out and see players. Brian [Gutekunst] is going to look at players that he was interested in. We try to give Eric [DeCosta] all the information that we can get at a pro day (and) at a school visit.”
Gutekunst stood next to Hortiz at Bateman’s pro day in Minneapolis; the longtime friends commuted from the airport to the Golden Gophers’ facility, per Hensley. The Packers ended up taking Georgia cornerback Eric Stokes at No. 29.
Part of the Aaron Rodgers-Packers impasse involves the team’s approach to the receiver position. The Packers were candidates to take a first-round wideout last year but surprised most by trading up for Jordan Love. The team had multiple second-round receivers on its radar in 2020 but could not maneuver to land them. They exited the ’20 draft without taking a receiver. This year, Green Bay selected Clemson’s Amari Rodgers in Round 3.
The Ravens have now taken first-round wide receivers twice in the past three years. Bateman will join Marquise Brown in Baltimore. The Bateman move came after the Ravens added Sammy Watkins in free agency. The team aggressively pursued veteran wideouts this offseason, but J.J. Smith-Schuster and T.Y. Hilton accepted less money to stay with their respective teams. Bateman broke out with a 60-catch, 1,219-yard sophomore season in 2019 and will be expected to play a major role for the run-heavy Ravens next season.
“When I came out of the pro day, I called Eric and John [Harbaugh]: ‘You got to watch his pro day,'” Hortiz said. “You can definitely feel his speed. With him, you really felt it — his ability to get in and out [of cuts] and show that twitch and strength that can transition into the burst and explosion. Certainly the pro day helped.”
Tavon Young Not Fully Cleared
- Tavon Young has become one of the NFL’s most injury-prone players, and the Ravens may have selected his heir apparent in Shaun Wade this year. The former early-round Ohio State prospect is expected to begin his career in the slot, and Young is not yet 100%. ACL tears sidelined Young for all of 2017 and 14 games last season, and he missed all of the 2019 season due to a neck ailment. Baltimore DC Don Martindale said Young has not been fully cleared from his latest round of ACL rehab, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com tweets. Young has missed an astounding 47 games over the past four seasons. Thanks to restructuring Young’s contract, the Ravens would be tagged with more than $9MM in dead money over the next two years were they to cut the veteran corner after June 1.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/18/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: K Jake Verity
- Waived: LS Brian Khoury
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: LB Julian Stanford
Dallas Cowboys
- Waived: OL William Sweet
Denver Broncos
- Signed: WR Damion Willis
Los Angeles Chargers
- Claimed (from Vikings): WR Austin Proehl
New England Patriots
- Waived: OL Najee Toran
New Orleans Saints
- Placed on reserve/retired list: OL Alex Hoffman
- Re-signed: S Eric Burrell
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: OT Casey Tucker
Washington Football Team
- Claimed (from Cardinals): S Chris Miller
NFL Draft Signings: 5/14/21
We’ll keep track of today’s lower round signings here:
Baltimore Ravens
- WR Tylan Wallace (fourth round; Oklahoma State)
Detroit Lions
- RB Jermar Jefferson (seventh round; Oregon State)
New England Patriots
- LB Cameron McGrone (fifth round, Michigan)
Seattle Seahawks
- OT Stone Forsythe (sixth round, Florida)
Ravens Sign 9 UDFAs
The Ravens have added nine undrafted free agents to their offseason roster. Here’s the full rundown:
- S Ar’Darius Washington, TCU
- OT Adrian Ealy, Oklahoma
- TE Tony Poljan, Virginia
- QB Kenji Bahar, Monmouth
- DT Xavier Kelly, Arkansas
- RB Nate McCrary, Saginaw Valley State
- OT Foster Sarell, Stanford
- WR Donte Sylencieux, Graceland
- LB Barrington Wade, Iowa
Bahar earned his spot on the expanded roster after impressing in a tryout earlier this week.
Washington, an undersized safety who played opposite of Raiders second-round pick Trevon Moehrig, may be the most notable player of the bunch. Moehrig graded out Pro Football Focus’ No. 1 graded safety in the country — Washington was No. 2. The Ravens signed at least one UDFA for 16 straight years, up until last year. The Ravens didn’t draft a safety, so Washington could be the player to start the next streak.
NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/12/21
A summary of today’s minor draft pick signings:
Baltimore Ravens
- CB Shaun Wade (fifth round; Ohio State)
- DL Daelin Hayes (fifth round; Notre Dame)
- FB Ben Mason (fifth round; Michigan)
Denver Broncos
- WR Seth Williams (sixth round; Auburn)
- S Kary Vincent Jr. (seventh round; LSU)
Houston Texans
- WR Nico Collins (third round; Michigan)
- TE Brevin Jordan (fifth round; Miami)
- DT Roy Lopez Jr. (sixth round; Arizona)
Ravens Sign First-Rounder Rashod Bateman
The first of the Ravens’ two 2021 first-round picks, Rashod Bateman is now under contract. The former Minnesota wide receiver signed his rookie deal Wednesday.
The No. 27 overall pick, Bateman signed a $12.6MM contract — with a $6.5MM signing bonus — and is now under contract through 2024. He could be kept through 2025 on this deal via the now-fully guaranteed fifth-year option. Baltimore will not have to make that decision until May 2024. In the meantime, Bateman will be a welcome addition to a team that has changed up its receiving corps this offseason.
It has not been especially easy for the Ravens to bolster their receiving crew. They were in on Kenny Golladay, and both JuJu Smith-Schuster and T.Y. Hilton passed on better offers from Baltimore in order to re-sign with the teams that drafted them. Although the Ravens did sign Sammy Watkins, their run-heavy offense has predictably been an issue for free agent wideouts. As such, the Ravens have spent first-round picks on receivers in two of the past three years.
At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Bateman will bring a different skill set compared to Marquise Brown. In 2019, however, Bateman did post a Brown-like yards-per-catch figure (20.9). After that 1,219-yard, 11-touchdown season, the big-bodied wideout played a limited role in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. Bateman opted out, opted back in, then left the Golden Gophers during the season to prepare for the draft. He still wound up a first-round pick and will attempt to give Lamar Jackson a steady target on the outside.
Bateman is the first of Baltimore’s draftees to sign and the second first-round pick to ink his rookie contract. The Colts signed Kwity Paye last week.
Panthers To Audition Washington QB Kevin Thomson
Washington quarterback Kevin Thomson will join the Panthers for their rookie minicamp next week, as NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets. Thomson, who had previous stops at UNLV and Sacramento State, opted to turn pro this year over an eighth year of college eligibility.
Thomson, who turns 26 in September, was on track to win the Huskies’ starting job in 2020. Instead, an undisclosed injury (believed to be his ribs) sidelined him to start the year. It was familiar territory for Thomson, who battled through back issues and other maladies throughout his collegiate career.
After that, redshirt freshman Dylan Morris held on to the job for the rest of the pandemic-shortened slate. Thomson went undrafted as a result, but the Panthers quickly reached out on Day 3. Now older than Patrick Mahomes, he’ll fight for a spot on the Panthers’ depth chart behind Sam Darnold, P.J. Walker, Will Grier, and Tommy Stevens.
“When I was at UNLV going into my second year, I had Tommy John surgery. It put me out for several months and gave me time to reflect on what I really wanted and made me realize how passionate I was about football and how I wanted to continue to pursue it,” Thomson said recently (via Yahoo Sports). “I knew it would take a tremendous amount of work to get where I wanted to be, but I was willing to do that. So I think the injury really made me a better player overall since it forced me to do some self-reflection.”
Per Pelissero, these undrafted QBs will also show their stuff at rookie minicamps later this month:
- Mississippi State’s K.J. Costello (Chargers)
- Tulsa’s Zach Smith (Bills)
- Memphis’ Brady White (Titans)
- Monmouth’s Kenji Bahar (Ravens)
- San Jose State’s Josh Love (Browns; 2020 UDFA who spent last offseason with Rams)
Ravens To Sign Alejandro Villanueva
The Ravens will sign Alejandro Villanueva to a two-year deal, according to a source who spoke with ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler (Twitter link). The contract is worth up to $14MM with $8MM fully guaranteed (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 
Villanueva will replace Orlando Brown Jr. following their huge draft week trade. Once Ronnie Stanley is healthy, the Ravens will slot the former Steeler at right tackle.
The Ravens have long been connected to Villanueva. Trading Brown to the Chiefs pretty much sealed the deal, but the Ravens waited until after May 3 to avoid losing ground in the compensatory pick formula. Now, they’re still projected to earn a pair of fourth-round comp picks in 2022 for losing Matthew Judon and Yannick Ngakoue in free agency.
Villanueva was never considered an elite left tackle, but he usually did an okay job of protecting Ben Roethlisberger‘s blindside. He’s also been durable, starting all 16 games in each of the past five seasons. He’ll be a key part of the Ravens’ O-Line moving forward, especially since they did not select any linemen in last week’s draft.
2021 NFL Draft Results By Round
The 2021 NFL Draft is here! We’ll be keeping tabs here, from pick No. 1 through No. 259:
Round 1
1) Jacksonville Jaguars: Trevor Lawrence, QB (Clemson)
2) New York Jets: Zach Wilson, QB (BYU)
3) San Francisco 49ers (from Texans via Dolphins): Trey Lance, QB (North Dakota State)
4) Atlanta Falcons: Kyle Pitts, TE (Florida)
5) Cincinnati Bengals: Ja’Marr Chase, WR (LSU)
6) Miami Dolphins (from Eagles): Jaylen Waddle, WR (Alabama)
7) Detroit Lions: Penei Sewell, OT (Oregon)
8) Carolina Panthers: Jaycee Horn, CB (South Carolina)
9) Denver Broncos: Patrick Surtain II, CB (Alabama)
10) Philadelphia Eagles (from Cowboys): DeVonta Smith, WR (Alabama)
11) Chicago Bears (from Giants): Justin Fields, QB (Ohio State)
12) Dallas Cowboys (from 49ers via Dolphins via Eagles): Micah Parsons, LB (Penn State)
13) Los Angeles Chargers: Rashawn Slater, OT (Northwestern)
14) New York Jets (from Vikings): Alijah Vera-Tucker, OL (USC)
15) New England Patriots: Mac Jones, QB (Alabama)
16) Arizona Cardinals: Zaven Collins, LB (Tulsa)
17) Las Vegas Raiders: Alex Leatherwood, OL (Alabama)
18) Miami Dolphins: Jaelan Phillips, DL (Miami)
19) Washington Football Team: Jamin Davis, LB (Kentucky)
20) New York Giants (from Bears): Kadarius Toney, WR (Florida)
21) Indianapolis Colts: Kwity Paye, DL (Michigan)
22) Tennessee Titans: Caleb Farley, CB (Virginia Tech)
23) Minnesota Vikings (from Seahawks via Jets): Christian Darrisaw, OT (Virginia Tech)
24) Pittsburgh Steelers: Najee Harris, RB (Alabama)
25) Jacksonville Jaguars (from Rams): Travis Etienne, RB (Clemson)
26) Cleveland Browns: Greg Newsome II, CB (Northwestern)
27) Baltimore Ravens: Rashod Bateman, WR (Minnes0ta)
28) New Orleans Saints: Payton Turner, DE (Houston)
29) Green Bay Packers: Eric Stokes, CB (Georgia)
30) Buffalo Bills: Gregory Rousseau, DL (Miami)
31) Baltimore Ravens (from Chiefs): Jayson Oweh, DE (Penn State)
32) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Joe Tryon, LB (Washington)